Mass Effect: Reborn
by R-I-C-A-R-D
Summary: An Aliens/Mass Effect fanfic. Shepard and the Normandy are sent to investigate a research station on Earth's Moon that the Citadel Council has lost contact with. Shepard discovers that the aliens are not the real danger.
1. The New Lieutenant

Author's Note: This is my attempt at an Aliens/Mass Effect crossover fanfic. Considering how Bioware seem to have used the idea of alien eggs and queens for the Rachni in the game, I thought it was fitting. The term 'frack' shamelessly stolen from Battlestar Galactica. But you probably already knew that :)

1. The New Lieutenant

Space, the final frontier, to boldly go where no man has...

Oops, wrong intro.

Lieutenant Commander Alison Shepard, the famed Savior of Citadel, survivor of Akuze, first human Spectre and destroyer of Sovereign jerked awake as the alarm sounded in Captain Anderson's small office. Even after six months, she couldn't bring herself to think of it as her office. Or even her ship. In her eyes, the SSV _Normandy_ would always be Captain Anderson's ship. Maybe one day the Systems Alliance Military would promote her, give her command of her own ship but until then, she considered herself the _Normandy's_ caretaker.

Alison moaned as she straightened up in the chair. She'd fallen asleep sitting up again and it was wreaking havoc with her neck muscles. She pulled herself more or less upright and slipped an unwashed cup under the nozzle of the espresso machine. She hoped like hell they'd run through the last of the stocks Garrus had brought aboard. Never put a turian in charge procuring coffee.

She moaned again as the thick black sludge splashed into the cup. She could almost hear it eating into the insides of the cup. Adams down in engineering said he could probably use it to degrease the Mako's engine. Alison gritted her teeth and took a slug. Coffee was coffee after all.

The Commander stood, smoothed down her shipboard uniform and glanced in the mirror. Not that she was overly girly - having her head shaved to a regulation buzz-cut back in basic and being forced to crawl through mud and God knew what else during training had knocked whatever girliness was left in her after growing up running in Earth's gang culture. She just wanted to make sure she was presentable.

The pale skin of her face was marred by knife-slash scar that cut diagonally across her left cheek, a constant reminder of her days as a teenage gang member on Earth. Still, she never considered having the scar surgically removed. It was a reminder of who she was, where she'd come from and it made damn sure she never dropped her guard around goons with switchblades.

Shepard splashed cold water over her face and combed a few errant strands of black hair into place. They fell back across her forehead immediately. Shrugging, Alison turned from the mirror and headed out the door, returning the salute of a passing crewman almost without thinking.

Alison headed up the _Normandy's_bridge and took up a position behind her helmsman, Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau. Outside the forward windows, the purplish nebula surrounding Citadel glowed softly. "How long 'til we dock, Joker?" Shepard asked.

"Just under twenty minutes. What do you think is wrong this time? I mean, you usually just forward the Council mission reports over the extranet."

"Probably they just want to make sure their pet human Spectre isn't running around getting all Saren on the galaxy's ass," Alison shrugged and shoved her hands into her pockets.

"That or they're looking to hand you some Godawful mess and expect us to clean it up," Joker replied.

"Yeah, that's a likely story," Shepard replied and left the cockpit. She headed to the mass, thinking to find something to wash the taste of Garrus' coffee out of her mouth and quickened her pace as she heard raised voices.

Seated at the table in the mess, the krogan mercenary Wrex and Gunnery Chief Williams appeared to be locked in a monumental arm wrestle. Standing around them, several of the Normandy's crew had stopped work to take in the spectacle and egging on the pair.

Alison sidled up next to her XO, Pressly and asked, "What's going on?"

"The krogan was mouthing off about how he's a match for any species and Chief Williams decided to take him on, to prove humanity's superiority, you know."  
"By arm...wrestling?" Alison rolled her eyes.

"Would you rather they settled things by shooting it out on board the ship, ma'am?"  
"Good point, Pressly. Carry on."

At the table, Wrex' massive paw had almost engulfed Williams' hand. Veins and tendons stood out in the human woman's throat as she brought all her strength to bear on the massively built reptilian alien sitting across from her. Wrex seemed almost bored with the proceedings. With his other hand he began picking his teeth with a dagger.

To her credit, Ashley Williams wasn't going to give up without a fight, though she did look perilously close to dislocating her arm. A grunt escaped her clenched teeth and sweat trickled from her head. "Arrgh, come on!" she cried and hammered her other hand into the table, rattling coffee mugs.

"Had enough, human?" the krogan rumbled, "Or do you want me to rip your arm off and beat you to death with it?"  
"Go to Hell, Wrex!"

Sighing, Shepard stepped forward and announced, "OK, children, playtime's over. Pack it up and maybe if you're very good, Mummy will read you a bed time story."

"This...isn't...a good...time...ma'am," Ashley ground out.

"That wasn't a request, Chief." Turning to Wrex, Shepard growled, "Release her, Wrex."  
"Or what?" the krogan growled back.

Shepard pulled her special-issue Spectre handgun and pressed the business end to Wrex' head. "Or I redecorate the bulkhead with your brain, Wrex."

"You're bluffing," Wrex said flatly. Ashley pulled as far back from the alien as she could and twisted her head away. She really didn't want krogan brain matter splashed over her.

"Am I?" Alison said serenely, her blue eyes locked with Wrex' red ones. Shepard and Wrex locked eyes for several seconds, neither one blinking. Finally Wrex released his hold on Ashley's arm and shoved himself away from the table. Shepard reholstered her pistol.

"The hell are _you_all looking at?" the krogan muttered as he pushed past the _Normandy's_ crew.

Williams rose unsteadily from the table, flexing her hand tentatively. The rest of the crew drifted back to their duties. "Thanks, Commander," Ashley said. Then, "You weren't really going to shoot him were you?"  
"No, but as long as he thinks I would have, he'll respect me."

Joker's voice came over the intercom, "We're coming in to dock. The Council has sent word that you're to report to them immediately."

"Oh goody, another chat with the three stooges," Shepard said. Her history with the Council was an uneasy one. She had fronted the Council with information regarding the actions of the rogue Spectre Saren and they had dismissed them. Then when she brought them news of the Reapers, they had rejected _that_, then expected her to pull their asses out of the fire at great risk to herself, her crew and the _Normandy_. And did they ever say thank you? Hell no. Instead they packed her off to the ass end of space on some mission of vital importance - at least according to them and now they wanted to see her again and with no explanation.

"They never mention this side of Spectre life in the vids," Shepard said as she headed to the airlock just aft of the bridge. She paused at an intercom and called up the turian Garrus who was in _Normandy's _drop bay. "Garrus, you're up. Get your gear and meet me at the airlock."  
"Yes, Commander," Garrus replied.

"Williams, with me," Alison continued.

"Aye, aye."

At the airlock, the pair of Alliance soldiers were met by the turian, Garrus. A former officer for Citadel Security, Garrus had chafed under what he saw as unreasonable rules and regulations and joined the _Normandy's _crew to hunt for Saren.

"What do you suppose the Council wants this time?" Garrus asked as the airlock cycled open.

"Well considering we saved that colony from certain destruction at the hands of the Geth, or whatever it is Geth have in place of hands, I doubt it's to chew us out. And I don't think they'd waste their time dragging us back here just to say 'good job.' So I'm assuming they're getting ready to throw us into the deep end."  
"Again," said Ashley.

The airlock door slid open with a small whoosh and the trio stepped out into Citadel's docking area. Immediately before them stood a young human woman in the uniform of the Systems Alliance military. Shiny new lieutenant's badges gleamed dully from her uniform jacket. As Shepard and the others exited the _Normandy_, the woman stood at attention and snapped off a parade ground perfect salute.

"Lieutenant Sarah Piers reporting for duty, ma'am!"

Shepard exchanged glances with Ashley and Garrus who shrugged. "Guh?" said Alison. What was this, she just gets off the ship and some fresh faced girl who was obviously straight out of the academy was saluting her.

"Do I know you?" Shepard said.

"Oh, no ma'am. I'm been assigned to the _Normandy's _crew. Admiral Hackett's orders."

_Oh joy, now I have to babysit some rookie on the say so of an Admiral who's so far behind the front lines he's forgotten what they look like._

"Could you excuse me for a moment, Lieutenant?" Alison stepped away from the younger woman and got XO Pressly on the comm. "Pressly, I got some girl out here, claims to be assigned to us by the top brass. Did we maybe receive some orders while I was asleep that maybe you forgot to tell me about?"  
"No, ma'am. Wait, something just came through. We've been assigned a detachment of marines under the command of a Lieutenant Piers."

"And I suppose there's no explanation as to why we need a unit of marines?"  
"No, ma'am," said Pressly.

"Great, frackin' great." Alison cut the commline and turned to the young marine officer who was _still_ standing at attention, her eyes agleam with youthful exuberance. _Tell me I did not look like that on my first tour,_ Shepard thought to herself.

"At ease, Lieutenant," Alison said. Piers shifted into perfect parade ground rest. _I just hope she can shoot stuff as well as she can stand at attention._

"Lieutenant Piers, my XO tells me that you and a marine detachment have been assigned to us."  
"Yes, ma'am," said Piers. _She can't be a day over 21,_ Shepard thought. _Somebody please kill me now._

"I don't suppose your orders can shed any light on why you've been assigned to the _Normandy_?"

"Here you go, Commander," Piers handed Shepard a datapad. The orders simply said that she was to report to the commanding officer of the _Normandy_ this date and time. No further details were given. "I have a very bad feeling about this," Alison said to herself.

"Ma'am?" asked the new Lieutenant.

"Alright, here's the thing. We're under orders to report to the oh so wise Council and we're running late. Come with us. Get on the comm to your platoon sergeant and have him get his men and gear squared away on board the Normandy," Alison began double-timing it in the direction of the Citadel Tower.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" snapped Piers. And saluted again.

"Oh holy Christ, we're in trouble," Alison said.


	2. The Three Stooges

2. The Three Stooges

Shepard stood at the head of the small group comprising herself, Ashley, Garrus and the new girl and tried to keep from tapping her foot impatiently as the Council got through the the usual formalities. She made eye contact with the newest Council member, her former commanding officer aboard the _Normandy_, Captain Anderson. Upon her recommendation following the 'Sovereign Incident' he had been offered a position on the Council to represent humanity to the galaxy. It was a great historic moment for her species. The holonews kept going on and on about it. _God, who woulda thought saving the galaxy would cause such excitement._

Finally the three other Council members addressed her.

"Commander Shepard, welcome back to the Citadel," began the turian Councilor.

"We offer our thanks for your performance of late, you have saved many lives," the asari continued.

"With due respect, Councilors, there must be some reason you asked us to come halfway across the galaxy?" Alison said as calmly as possible. She could feel the biotic implant inside her skull throbbing in time to her heartbeat.

"There is a matter of some concern that we feel requires your expertise," the salarian on the Council said.

The turian took up the conversation, "We have recently lost contact with a research and development installation on Earth's moon. The Council is indirectly funding the project and we somebody of your calibre to investigate the situation."  
"By 'indirectly funding' you mean 'black ops project,'" Shepard asked.

"Not in so many words but essentially yes," answered the salarian.

Captain Anderson, the newest member of the Council, representing humanity, spoke up, "This is big, Shepard. Whatever that research base was working on was classified beyond top secret. You need to get in there, secure the site, rescue any surviving scientists or if there are no survivors, secure any and all research materials you can."

"So the primary objective isn't SAR?" Shepard queried.

"The nature of the research is of the highest importance but if there are any people still out there, make every reasonable effort to help them."

Before Shepard could reply to that, the asari Councilor announced that this sitting of the Council was hereby closed. Shepard glanced at her companions, and tilted her head towards the elevator back to the Presidium level of Citadel.

"What do you make of that, Commander?" Garrus asked during the longish elevator ride back down.

"Whenever somebody tells me that they've lost contact with a research facility, I have flashbacks to Noveria. If some idiot's been trying to breed Rachni on the moon, I'll shoot the sons of bitches myself."

"I...I still don't feel right about us killing the Rachni queen," Garrus said. The elevator doors whooshed open and the group exited and headed towards the C-Sec academy where the elevator to the docking bays was.

Alison pulled up so abruptly that Piers almost fell over. Shepard glared hard at Garrus, "Look, why is OK for the turians to use the genophage to pretty much exterminate the krogan but I do the same to a species who'd happily kill us all and suddenly I'm an evil bitch?"

"Uh..." Garrus' mandibles spread wide in shock.

"Damn straight," Ashley said.

Lieutenant Piers looked around awkwardly as though she wished she were somewhere else.

"Alright, fall in!" Shepard snapped and began walking again, faster this time.

During the elevator ride from the C-Sec academy to the docks, Shepard commed Joker, "Joker, prep the ship. I want you to pull all the info we have off the extranet on any R and D setups on Earth's moon."

Back on board the _Normandy_, things were considerably more cramped with the arrival of an extra dozen soldiers plus the FNG officer. Shepard looked around at the crew squeezing past the newcomers as they performed their duties.

"I think the Council has forgotten that the _Normandy_ is a stealth ship, not a bloody cargo hauler," Alison fumed as she made her way to the office she had inherited from Captain Anderson.

Alison seated herself at the small desk and powered up the computer terminal. All the available data on the Luna facility was in a file titled Weyland Yutani.

"Never heard of these guys," Shepard said to herself and began reading. Apparently WY were in the business of colonising worlds deemed barely habitable and doing whatever it took to turn a profit from them. Of greater interest were the scant details on WY's bioweapons division - apparently they had been dabbling in areas of scientific research similar to Binary Helix. "And look how _that_ turned out," Alison muttered and closed the file.

A communication from the quarian Tali caught Alison's attention. The young quarian had joined Shepard's crew during the hunt for Saren and had recently departed the Normandy on her way back to the quarian migrant fleet. The message said that Tali had safely returned to her people and the knowledge of the geth she had acquired was being hailed as the greatest thing a quarian had ever accomplished. Tali was being feted as a hero. _And won't that get old fast,_ Shepard thought.

Pleased as she was at the success of the young quarian's Pilgrimage, her departure left a rather large gap in Shepard's planetside operational capacity. She had come to rely heavily on Tali's technical brilliance while on a mission and with the loss of Lieutenant Alenko and his own technical skills on Virmire, she was left without an engineering specialist. Garrus had some training in decryption and electronics but was far more comfortable with an assault rifle or sniper rifle.

Sighing, Alison composed yet another request to Alliance High Command for a dedicated engineer to join her crew. She was a Spectre, damn it, everybody kept banging on about how important a Spectre's work was yet nobody was willing to help find her a decent tech support guy. Shepard fired off the message and closed down the terminal. This Weyland Yutani thing was bothering her.

Shepard got up and, attempting to put the issue out of her mind for now, commed Joker, "Plot a course for the Local Cluster. We're going home."


	3. Home

3. Home

The SSV _Normandy_ appeared in the Sol system in a brilliant burst of soundless light. In the now-very cramped interior of the _Normandy's _drop bay, the APC belonging to Lieutenant Piers' marine unit sat alongside the smaller M35 Mako. Both vehicles would make a combat drop onto the lunar surface. The Normandy's technical crews were scurrying like ants over the surfaces of both vehicles, making last minute checks and making sure the tyres wouldn't fall off when they hit planetside.

Alison Shepard stood in the _Normandy's _bridge looking out the view ports at the blue globe hanging in space before them. Earth, cradle of humanity. _What a dump, _Alison thought to herself. Sure, in the vids the Systems Alliance promoted Earth as some sort of modern day utopia - completely ignoring the rising sea levels, horrific smog that claimed more lives due to respiratory illnesses every year than had died during the First Contact War and the dire fuel shortages that had plagued the later years of the twenty first century. _I suppose they need to remind everybody that as crap a place as it is, it's still home and worth defending._

"Joker, park the _Normandy_ in low orbit and engage the stealth systems," Alison ordered, "I want to collect as much data as possible before we make the drop, see if we can't find out what's happening down there,"  
"Aye, aye," Joker replied.

Shepard doubted they'd find anything. The WY installation had been offline for nearly two months now. Whatever had happened down there must have taken out all long range comm gear...or just killed everybody.

So it was quite a shock, then, when Joker informed her that a recorded coded message had been received. Typically, the message made almost no sense, "Containment breached...test subjects loose...few survivors..."

"Whatever happened down there must've damaged their comm relay," Joker said.

"Your grasp of the blatantly obviously is staggering," Alison answered. Without waiting for an answer she departed the bridge and went to brief her ground crew.

Shepard stood at the mess table along with Garrus and Ashley, the drop bay having been taken over by Piers' marine detachment. A squad of her marines would secure the perimeter of the installation and the rest would join Shepard's team to sweep the place.

"So we know that something happened down there. Something involving a containment breach and loose test subjects. You saw what happened on Noveria and I am not taking the risk of letting anything out of there alive. If you see something with more than two legs, shoot it."

Garrus and Ashley nodded and Shepard commed Piers.

"Piers, Shepard, what's your status?"  
"Squads Alpha through Gamma are prepped and ready to drop, ma'am," Piers replied. Even over the commline she sounded bright eyed and eager. _Give her three minutes of live fire and we'll see how chipper she is then,_ Shepard thought to herself.

Alison secured the helmet of her combat hardsuit and locked the collar into place. A faint hiss confirmed that oxygen was being fed into the helmet. A holographic head up display inside the helmet's faceplate gave her a readout on her and her squad's shields and vital signs.

With Garrus and Ashley in tow, Shepard entered the elevator that descended into the _Normandy's_ drop bay.

The marine APC was the scene of semi-controlled chaos. Soldiers made last minute checks to their gear, adjusting helmets, loading weapons and confirming the shield capacitors of their hardsuits were fully charged. Williams leaned in close to Shepard and asked, "Any idea why we need so many extra troops?"  
"The Council, in its infinite wisdom, deigned to tell me less than nothing, as per," Shepard answered. "Still, an extra dozen troops should be useful if any shooting breaks out."

"I don't like it, Skipper," Williams replied, "I have a feeling about this. And there's something not right about their CO."  
"How do you figure?" Garrus asked.

"An op like this should call for a more experienced officer but we get some FNG who looks more at home behind a desk?"

"I'll keep an eye on her," Shepard said.

"Commander Shepard!" the new girl called out, looking substantially more combat-ready wearing a hardsuit and gripping an assault rifle. "We'll see you groundside!"  
"Roger, that Lieutenant, good hunting," Alison returned the salute and climbed into the Mako's cramped forward seat. She strapped herself in and ran a diagnostics on the Mako's systems. Everything checked out green.

"Joker, we're ready to drop, open the bay doors," ordered Shepard.

"Aye, aye," Joker replied over the comm. Ahead of her, the drop bay doors slid open, revealing the vast cratered surface of the moon below them.

"And here we go," Alison said as the Mako dropped into oblivion.


	4. Too Quiet

4. Too Quiet

She could never get used to this part, no matter how many times she'd done it. Ashley closed her eyes and mouthed the Twenty Third Psalm as the six-wheeled infantry fighting vehicle plunged downward. From the moment the drop bay doors opened to the moment they hit groundside, they were in the hands of the _Normandy's _navigational computers and the Mako's own tracking system. If Joker had fracked up the launch angle...well there likely wouldn't be enough of her left to scrape into a matchbox for burial. Perversely, Commander Shepard seemed to be singing to herself as the Mako plumetted. Shepard's hands tapped in time to the music only she could hear.

Somewhere outside the Mako, the marines' APC was heading for its own drop-zone on the other side of the Lunar installation. Intel was sketchy at best and she hated walking into situations blind. Still, she had faith in the Commander.

After what seemed like an age, the Mako's plasma jets fired, slowing their velocity so that they wouldn't make their own Mako-shaped impact crater on touchdown. The M35 made a relatively smooth landing and Williams opened her eyes. "Amen," she breathed.

"This is Commander Shepard, Lieutenant Piers, confirm you've made planetfall, over."  
"This is Piers, confirm planet fall. We're moving to secure the the perimeter, out."

"Ready boys and girls?" Bloody hell, but the Commander always seemed to get a massive charge out of combat scenarios.

"Yes Commander," Garrus answered.

"Ready to rock and roll," Williams replied, trying to inject some of Shepard's enthusiasm into her own voice.

Shepard slammed the throttle forward and the Mako lurched ahead, the six wheel drive system effortlessly absorbing the jostling from the rocky terrain and making the ride about as comfortable as a person could get in a combatsit.

"This is Commander Shepard of the SSV _Normandy_, on Citadel business. If there's anybody alive in there, please respond," Alison hailed the R & D buildings as they approached. Nothing.

"OK, looks like we do this the hard way," Shepard sighed as the cluster of buildings loomed ahead of them.

"Commander Shepard, Lieutenant Piers," came the FNG over the comm, "We've arrived at the northern gate of the installation, preparing to..." her voice cut off and a faint crashing sounded over the commline.

_Explosion,_ thought Williams, _somebody's set off a security system._

A frenzied call for help came over the general freq, "MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN! WE ARE TAKING HEAVY-" the soldier's voice cut off abruptly.

"What the hell?" Garrus muttered.

"Hold onto your spleens, everybody," Shepard said as she throttled up to full power. The Mako hammered across the barren lunar terrain, kicking up clouds of grey-white dust in its wake.

As they neared the other side of the installation, the Mako's radar lit up with enemy contacts.

"Static defenses, they must have come online just now," Garrus observed.

From inside the Mako, Shepard could see three bodies lying in the lunar soil, hardsuits breached, blood frozen in the below zero temperatures. The surviving marines had taken cover behind the APC. The heavy vehicle's roof-mounted turret fired a shot and one of the defense turrets exploded soundlessly.

Shepard slewed the Mako to a halt as the nearest autoturret swiveled towards them. Shepard gripped the control stick and thumbed the trigger for the 155mm main gun on the Mako's roof. The M35 shuddered as the round blew the turret into shrapnel. One of Piers' marines chose that exact moment to stick his head out from behind cover and a razor sharp piece of metal almost decapitated him. A faint clunk sounded in the depths of the Mako as another high explosive round was loaded into the cannon's breech.

"Frack!" Shepard cried, "Frack me sideways!"

"Marines, get back in the APC! Move, move, move!" Shepard shouted over the loudspeaker. The surviving marines piled back into the APC in good order and vehicle quickly drove out of range of the turrets. Shepard fired another 155mm shell and the final turret exploded.

"God damn it," Alison muttered as she exited the Mako. She jogged over to where the three Alliance marines lay dead, her gait made into a not quite comical bounce in the low gravity.

Shepard commed Piers, "This is Shepard, area is secured."  
"Roger that, Commander, we're inbound. ETA two minutes."

Shepard stood waiting the vehicle to arrive, fuming. Even powered down, the sensors on the APC should have picked up the defense grid.

"Want to tell me what the frack that was?" Alison barked as the marines piled out of the APC.

"Ma'am...I don't know. The scope was clear as we approached...I screwed up," Piers said.

"Alright, fall in, we still have a job to do," Shepard said.

The marines broke into two squads, with Alpha Squad joining Shepard's team and Beta securing the perimeter and staying with the APC.

The main gate of the installation was a massive titanium-alloy construct that would withstand a direct hit from most ordnance short of an air strike. And of course it was code-locked.

"Garrus, can you open it?"

The turian stalked cautiously torwards the gate controls, assault rifle held at the ready. As Garrus reached the gate, he racked the rifle into the slot on the back of his hardsuit and activated his omnitool. After a few seconds the gate unlocked and slid aside. Garrus took cover beside the control box and slung out his weapon again. With Garrus covering them, Ashley and Shepard walked past the gate and onto the path leading to the main complex. No signs of life.

"Clear," Shepard said over the general freq and the marines formed up and began fanning out into the complex. Following an impulse she couldn't have explained to save her life, Shepard headed for the large building on the right, the flickering holographic sign declaring it to be the garage. Something about that place was tugging at her, urging her on. "Garrus, Ash, with me," she said quietly and headed towards the building.

As she approached, she unslung the Spectre-issue shotgun from the slot at the small of her back and flipped off the safety. The heavy weapon was loaded with Shredder anti-personnel rounds that would turn a person into mince meat.

She could see a dark red stain on the lunar soil, spreading out from the garage doors and felt her heartrate speed up.

"I don't like this," muttered Garrus, "It's too quiet."  
"Yeah, I've always preferred the staccato roar of assault rifle fire and the bark of auto-shotguns," Shepard replied. Shepard motioned for Garrus and Ashely to stack up by the door and provide cover. The door slid open, revealing more dried blood. Further inside the garage, sat a lunar rover vehicle, the driver and passenger doors wide open and human body parts scattered all over the place.

"What the frack happened here?" Alison said.

Shepard and the others moved carefully to the rover, trying without much success to avoid the rivers of dried blood.

"Looks like they were trying to make a run for it in the rover...and something got them," Garrus said.

"Yeah," replied Ashley. "And there's no signs of gunfire, whatever got them moved fast."

"Commander, this is Piers," the call came over Shepard's command frequency.

"Go ahead," Shepard replied.

"We're inside the main complex, no survivors so far. We're seeing a lot of bodies though."  
"Can you tell how they died?," Shepard asked.

"Ma'am, they've been torn apart," Piers responded.

"What the hell were they working on here?" Ashley wondered.

"I don't know, but we're finding out," Shepard replied grimly.


	5. Someone Taller

5. Someone Taller

"OK, lets join the others in the main building. Garrus, I'll need you to decrypt the files on their servers, find out what's going on here," Shepard turned away from the carnage surrounding the rover just as Williams shouted, "Get DOWN!"

Instinctively, Alison threw herself forward, hit the deck and rolled onto her back in time to see...something drop down from the ceiling above where she had been standing seconds ago. It was vaguely human-shaped, stood on two legs but had an elongated banana shaped head and a long, ribbed tail. The skull had no visible eyes or ears. The jaws dripped clear slime and a secondary set of jaws seemed to be nestled inside the mouth.

It hissed and began stalking towards Shepard.

Ashley snapped up her rifle to firing position and triggered a burst. The bullets hit the thing high in the chest and knocked it back a few steps. A yellowish green liquid that could only be blood burst out and sprayed the floor. The floor began to smoke as the blood began dissolving it.

"OK, that is _so _not right," Ashley said as she backed up. Garrus pulled Shepard to her feet and the three began backing towards the garage doors.

"Piers, Shepard, we have a situation here, require immediate back up, over!"

The alien creature dropped to all fours and looked about to leap at them.

Shepard shouldered the shotgun and fired straight into the thing's jaws. The beast's head exploded violently, spraying the area with the acidic blood. The creature hit the floor and pumped an expanding river of acid into the floor.

"Piers, talk to me!" Shepard said as the three backed into the doors.

"Sorry, Commander, we had a situation here, found a survivor."  
"Well thank baby Jesus for that, at least," Shepard said as they finally got outside and closed the doors. "Lock that down," she ordered Garrus.

"Piers, assemble your troops, we're coming in."  
"Aye, ma'am."

The main building of the scientific complex was a standard Alliance prefab job that had been expanded and modified for the work carried out by WY. Piers had assembled Alpha Squad along with the survivor, a turian scientist in the mess hall. The other squad was on patrol through the surrounding buildings. Looking for survivors and more of those...things. Shepard removed her helmet as the doors shut behind her and ran a hand through her hair.

The turian stood as Shepard approached the mess table. "Commander Shepard, first human Spectre? Hmmm I was expecting someone taller," the turian said.

"You a scientist?" the turian nodded, "I was expecting someone smarter," Shepard snapped.

"Excuse me?" the turians' mandibles flared in irritation. "We are conducting vital research here.."  
"Cut the crap!" Shepard slammed a hand onto the table. "We saw the 'research' you've been 'conducting.' How many of those things are out there?" Alison waved an arm in the general direction of outside.

The turian chose to ignore the question and said instead, "Weyland Yutani has been studying the biology of the xenomorph species for a number of years now. We are close to a breakthrough in our bioweapons application."

"Yeah? The only 'breakthrough' I see here is a breakthrough in containment protocols."

"Yes, that was...unfortunate. But on the bright side, I've managed to gather invaluable data on the survival instincts and adaptability of the xenomorph species," the turian said calmly, as though completely oblivious to the destructive potential of the guns around him.

Shepard turned away from the turian then whirled back, her hair whipping around, and levelled her pistol at the turian's head. An almost palpable electric charge seemed to fill the confined space of the mess hall.

"Listen to me, you son of a bitch and listen well. Explain to me everything you can about these...'xenomorphs' and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps."

"You are being rather overly dramatic about all of this, you know?" the turian replied.

Shepard walked around the small table, the marines backing up to give her room. Alison circled the table and seated turian slowly. Then she stepped up behind him, grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him face first into the table.

"You think I'm being overly dramatic? Shall I drag you out to the garage and show you what's left of those poor bastards who couldn't get away in time? Should I show you the thing I killed?"

"Very well," the turian sighed into the table.

"Alright then," Alison stood back and watched as the scientist smoothed himself down.

"Weyland Yutani, the 'Company' has long been in the business of exploring new avenues in bio-weapons research. Some time ago, one of our deep space salvage missions located a derelict ship that does not match any known design in Citadel space."  
"Always with the alien ships, you people," Ashley said, "Didn't the 'problem' on Noveria teach you anything?"

Pretending that Williams didn't exist, the scientist continued. "The salvage team boarded the ship and discovered that it was literally stuffed full of eggs."  
"Oh for frack's sake!" Williams snapped.

"Ash, shut up," Garrus said, annoyed. Williams flipped him the finger.

"The leader of the salvage team made the decision to secure the alien vessel and tow it to a WY installation in the Pegasus system for study."

"How come nobody ever heard about this?" Shepard asked, as she pulled out a chair and seated herself across from the turian.

"Oh yes, because trumpeting the fact that we had discovered a previously unknown alien species and were studying it would have been a fantastic way of keeping it quiet."

"Fine, go on," Shepard said. She glanced at Garrus, "Take Ashley and start downloading files from the main computers."  
"What? That's Company property, you can't just..." the scientist broke off as Shepard levelled the pistol at him again. "We're under Citadel orders to secure any research data. But the more I think about it, the more inclined I am to 'accidentally' lose it."

The turian surged out of his seat and practically flew at Shepard. All around the room, soldiers raised their weapons and the metallic sounds of safeties being flicked off echoed.

"At ease, people," Shepard said calmly. "Think very carefully about what you're about to do, sir," she said as the scientist pulled up. The turian sat back down, looking utterly defeated.

The turian visibly collected himself and continued, "The eggs contain a kind of spider-like creature that clamps itself to the face of its victim and over a period of time, deposits an alien embryo inside the host. The creature then drops off and dies."  
There was a kind of stunned silence as the soldiers processed what the turian scientist was telling them - aliens using people as hosts to incubate more aliens?

"Go on, tell us the rest of it," Shepard said tiredly. _That settles it, _she thought, _I'm definitely 'accidentally' losing the data. These things can't be allowed to exist._

"After a number of hours, the alien embryo bursts out the chest of the host animal, killing it."

"What have you people DONE?!" Shepard lost control and backhanded the turian who fell sideways out of his chair.

The turian picked himself up and got back to his feet, "We thought we could control them, do you understand? We thought we could implant wetware into them to put them under our control..."

"But instead you lost control, containment was breached and now everybody's dead and those things are loose. That pretty much sum up the current tacsit?" Shepard asked.

The turian sighed, "Yes, Commander that pretty much sums up the 'tacsit.' We do of course have emergency protocols in place for such an eventuality."  
"Please tell me they involved the complete destruction of this facility?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, the fusion plant that powers the facility can be set to self destruct, if necessary."

At that point, Lieutenant Sarah Piers pulled her pistol and jacked a round into the breech. In the quiet room, the metallic clicking sounded very loud.

"I am afraid that the Company board of directors would take an extremely dim view of any attempts to destroy this installation and the research completed here."

"Piers, what the frack is this?" Shepard asked, her hand reaching slowly around to the butt of her shotgun. Piers swung her pistol around to point at Shepard's head. The marines under Piers' command didn't seem to mind one bit.

"I am sorry about this, Commander, but you've become a liability, as has the good doctor here." Without breaking her gaze with Shepard, Piers ordered the marines, "Shoot him."

"Aye, ma'am," said one of the soldiers and shot the turian through the forehead. The body fell heavily to the floor.

"Piers, what are _doing_?" Alison asked. She thought she'd seen everything but this?

"Oh I don't suppose there's any harm in telling you, after all, you won't be alive to tell anybody," Piers said, then, "Secure her weapons." One of the men moved towards Shepard.

"Think about what you're doing, soldier," Shepard said, looking the man in the eye, "You took a vow to protect humanity and faithfully serve the Systems Alliance, you-" Shepard broke off as the soldier slammed his rifle butt into her face. Shepard fell, catching herself on the table. She tasted blood in her mouth.

"We don't work for the Systems Alliance, _ma'am,"_ the soldier said.

"Well _obviously,"_Shepard said, spitting blood. The soldier pulled her upright and held her while another removed her pistol and shotgun. "Garrus and Williams will be back soon," Shepard said, "They'll be pissed, especially Williams."  
"That's a good point," Piers said, "Alpha Squad, find them and kill them."


	6. Friendly Fire

6. Friendly Fire

"How fracked up is this?" Williams breathed, looking over Garrus' shoulder as he downloaded the files into an OSD.

"I could work faster if you'd stop leaning over my shoulder, Chief," Garrus said testily.

"Afraid I might turn you on, Garrus?" Ashley said cheerfully and bumped him with her hip.

"Hold it right there," a decidedly unfriendly voice called out from across the room.

Williams knew when somebody had the drop on her. She raised her hands over her head and turned slowly to see four of the marines levelling weapons at her. "Um, Garrus, we have problems," she said.

"No kidding. I wonder, is it customary for humans to want to murder each other or is it something about you that triggers that reaction?"  
"Step away from the computers," a marine snapped, "Now!"

"Very well, just let me detach my OSD from the drive," Garrus said and slowly lowered one hand to the console. A second later, he threw and electronic countermeasures mine that exploded and temporarily jammed the soldiers' weapons and damaged their shields.

Taking advantage of the opening, Williams swung her rifle into play and fired aimed bursts into the soldiers. Within seconds, all four lay dead.

"Nicely done, Garrus," she said.

"Thanks, but I think the Commander has worse problems than us. Let's move."

In the mess, Shepard's head dropped at the sound of the assault rifle fire. She allowed herself to believe it might have been Williams but in her heart, she knew both she and Garrus were dead. A tear rolled down her face and she wiped the side of her face against her chest as best she could, her hands and feet being bound the the chair. Conveniently stopping her from using any biotic techniques as well, bravo, Sarah Piers, you little bitch.

Shepard pulled herself upright. "So, what now? Want to gloat a bit about how you outsmarted and captured a Spectre? Or maybe you want to skip that and go straight to the part where you shove bamboo slivers under my fingernails?"  
"Don't flatter yourself, Shepard," Piers said, "This isn't about you. Although being known as the person to do what scores of geth couldn't would be gratifying," Sarah smiled slightly.

"Say, shouldn't your goons have called in by now?" Shepard said, a spark of hope burning inside her.

Piers stared hard at her for a moment then snapped into her mike, "Alpha Squad, report!"

"I'm afraid that Alpha can't come to the comm right now. What with them being dead and all," Williams' voice replied. Shepard's head tipped back as a bark of laughter escaped her. "Hey Williams! Give 'em hell!"

"Shut up!" Piers snapped and struck Shepard across the face. Alison's head whipped around from the force of the impact. "Oh, you are so going to pay for that."

"No, I think not," Piers said and fired. "The rest of you jarheads, find them! Go!" The rest of the marines headed out the door.

Piers pulled a chair around and sat on it backwards, propping her chin on the chairback. "You lose, Shepard," she whispered to the body slumped before her.

_Oh son of a bitch, that hurts! That little whore actually shot me. Didn't think she was prepared to go that far. Kill me and make it look like friendly fire? Sure I can see that happening but tying me to a chair and shooting me in the guts? What the frack is that all about?_

Unbeknown to Lieutenant Piers, Alison's hardsuit had been modified with an experimental medical computer that monitored the wearer's vital signs and would react instantly to any trauma by injecting blood clotting agents and anti-shock drugs. Alison slumped in the chair, the only things keeping her from collapsing to the floor were the plastic ties that bound her wrists and ankles. Blood dripped from a split lip and a dull ache radiated from her stomach but she figured she'd be fine. If Williams and Garrus could get her out of this, that was.

"I figure we go less than 30 seconds before those bastards come for us," Williams said, "Find cover!"

The computer lab also doubled as a temporary storage area and a number of heavy crates were stacked up. Ashley and Garrus pressed themselves up against them just as the sounds of running footfalls reached them. A voice called out, "Fan out, search the area. They can't be too...what the frack?" The voice trailed off as a familiar hissing sounded from somewhere in the ductwork of the ceiling.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ashley whispered.

Garrus leaned out just far enough to see four human soldiers standing in the centre of the room, weapons sweeping left and right, seeking threats. One of the alien creatures unfolded itself from the ductwork and grabbed a soldier by his helmet, yanking him straight up. Seconds later, the decapitated corpse thumped to the ground. The other three marines opened fire into the ceiling, shattering acoustic tiles and the alien's hardened carapace. A flood of concentrated molecular acid rained down onto the marines.

Ashley rolled out from cover and saw the surviving marines writhing in agony, thin streamers of smoke issuing from their rapidly dissolving armour...and flesh. "Well that's gotta suck," she remarked and opened up on full auto, the gunfire mercifully cutting off the shrieks of agony.

Garrus and Ashley stood a safe distance from the carnage and watched as the acid ate into the floor, thick noxious fumes rising into the air to be sucked away by the air recirculators. Garrus cocked his head to one side, listening. He could hear faint scratching sounds from inside the ceiling ducts where the alien had emerged. "Company's coming," he said.

Sarah Piers was losing patience. It was almost ten minutes since she'd sent her last few marines to terminate Shepard's team. Her lips curled in disgust, a human officer with a turian in her company. "You're a little alien-loving whore aren't you?" she said to the body slumped in the chair. "I should have thought to introduce you to one of the facehuggers, I'm guessing you'd have enjoyed the experience."

Piers checked her chronometer again. This was really irritating. How hard could it be to find and kill two people? Her team had the advantage of numbers and firepower. Piers sighed irritably and got to her feet. "Never send a boy to do a woman's job," she said to herself as she picked up the late Commander Shepard's shotgun.

"According to the building schematics, these ducts run all through the complex. That's how the aliens are moving from place to place," Garrus said as he examined the blueprints he called up on his omnitool.  
"Well, you gotta give 'em points for being smart, I guess," Ashley replied as she backed out of the door to the computer lab.

"Let's find the Commander, set the fusion plant to self destruct and get the hell outta here," Ashley said and turned to leave.

And found herself face to face with Sarah Piers, clutching a familiar looking weapon in her hands.

"The frack is this?" she snarled.

"Well seeing as how you've done such a great job of killing my team, I've had to take a more hands on approach to terminating you," Sarah said and raised the shotgun.

"Now would be a really great time for one of those things to come out of the walls, but no," Ashley said.

"What have you done with the Commander?" Garrus demanded.

"Tied her to a chair, smacked her around the face a bit...oh and shot her," Piers said with a smile, "People say Spectres are tough to kill, not from what I've seen."  
"You whore," Ashley said and swung her rifle up.

"Whatever pays the bills, sweetheart," Piers responded and fired. The blast wasn't quite enough to breach Ashley's kinetic barrier but it did knock her down. Garrus sidestepped to the left, brought up his omnitool and activated the sabotage setting. The shotgun emitted an intense shower of sparks that half blinded Piers and forced her to drop the weapon. Working on half-forgotten hand to hand combat training, Garrus swept a foot under Piers' ankles and knocked her off her feet. Piers landed on her back and reached for the pistol at her hip. Garrus stomped heavily on her hand and ground it into the floor, putting all his weight into it.

Piers grunted and tried to bring her other arm around to grab the weapon. A second boot slammed into her throat, cutting off her air and slamming the back of her head into the floor. She looked up, choking to see Williams standing over her. Her view of Williams was obscured by the gun barrel that swung into line with her forehead. A metallic click sounded as Williams chambered a round. That click was the voice of doom.

"This is for the Skipper," Ashley said, as she held back tears.

"Stop!" a voice called out. Was that? No, it couldn't be, she was dead.

"Let her up, we'll let the Council deal with her," Shepard said from where she leaned against a wall for support.

"Shepard!" Garrus cried.

"You're...alive?" Williams said in relief.

"Oh...frack...me.." Piers ground out.


	7. Lunar Sunrise

7. Lunar Sunrise

As soon as Piers left the room, Shepard's eyes opened and she jerked herself painfully upright. There was a talon-blade built into the sleeve of her hardsuit, a little something-something for emergencies. If she could just twist her wrist enough to. _Click_. "Oh yeah, come to mother," Alison muttered as the blade locked into place. Working as quickly as possible and fighting the cramps that came from being restrained for so long, she managed to saw the blade through the restraints enough to break free. Alison spent a few precious seconds trying to work the pins and needles out of her arms before she cut the ties around her feet and got up. A wave of dizziness almost sent her crashing down again before the drugs from the medical system cleared her vision.

Her weapons had been taken by Piers and her goon squad but she still had her biotics.

Alison made her way out of the mess hall, stepping carefully over the body of the turian scientist. _I never even asked the poor bastard his name_, she thought sadly.

She could hear voices from just outside the computer lab, Williams and Garrus' so they were both still in the game. Shepard ran a hand along one wall as she walked for support, each step sending spikes of pain from the bullet wound in her stomach down into her legs. _Note to the manufacturers, up the pain meds_, she thought as she left the mess hall and headed down the hall. Now she could hear a third voice - Piers and the rather unsettling sound of her own shotgun going off. Then the sounds of physical combat.

Pushing herself to go faster, faster still, Shepard squeezed through the doorway before the door was fully opened and found Piers on her back, one hand pinned by Garrus' foot and Williams' boot grinding her into the floor. And Williams was about to blow Piers' brains out.

"Stop!" Shepard yelled, slumping against the wall for support. Taking a deep breath, she went on, "Let her up, we'll let the Council deal with her."

"Shepard!" Garrus cried.

"You're...alive?" Williams said in relief.

"Oh...frack...me.." Piers ground out, her eyes rolling around to face her, staring daggers at Shepard.

Garrus and Williams stepped away from Piers. Ashley hauled Piers up by the armpits, spun her around and slammed her face first into the wall. Piers' breathing sounded raggedly. "What's the matter, Shepard? Don't have the guts to finish me off?"  
"Oh just shut up," Alison said tiredly. She limped over to where Ash had Piers jammed against the wall and used a nerve pinch to finally silence the woman. Piers' eyes rolled back in her head and she slid to the ground.

Ashley embraced Shepard tightly, only stepping back when she felt Shepard tense in pain. "Uh, sorry about that, Skipper, don't know what came over me."  
"It's fine, Ash. Feels nice to be missed."  
"Commander, you're bleeding," Garrus pointed a three-fingered hand at the blood seeping from her body armour.

"Yeah, a forty calibre round tends to do that to a person," Shepard said, wincing.

"Here's some medi-gel," Garrus removed a unit of the magical-mystery healing substance from a pocket of his hardsuit and offered it to Shepard. The bleeding stopped instantly and the waves of pain eased somewhat.

"What now, Skipper?" Ashley asked.

"We have to track down the rest of those aliens and eliminate them," Shepard answered.

"You're in no condition to keep fighting," Garrus pointed out. "We should set the fusion plant to self destruct, it's the only way to be sure."

"You're right." Alison activated her comm, "Joker, do you read me?"  
"Loud and clear," the pilot answered.

"The situation here has...changed. Find a place to land and inform Dr Chakwas that I've got another bullet for her collection," Shepard said.

"Uh, aye aye," Joker replied.

"We have to work fast," Ashley said, "We heard more of those things moving around in the air ducts. They like to drop out of the ceiling and take people's heads off,"  
"The building housing the reactor's on the other side of the complex. We'll have to take the Mako, it's too far to walk."

Ashley retrieved Shepard's shotgun and the three began walking back to the Mako, Garrus carrying the limp form of Lieutenant Piers. The _Normandy_ flew low overhead and settled on a flat plain a few hundred metres away from the complex gate. Shepard strapped herself into the rear passenger seat and closed her eyes. Across from her, Piers was securely bound into her seat, head lolling to one side.

Garrus climbed in behind the vehicle's controls and Ashley got in beside him, "Why do you get to drive?" she asked.

"Because the Mako has never been quite right since that time you drove it off that cliff," Garrus responded as he powered up the vehicle.

"Hey, we landed the right way up didn't we?"  
"Due more to luck than your skill, I believe," Garrus said as the Mako rumbled to life.

"_Normandy _to shore party, come in Commander," Joker said over the commline.

"This is Shepard," Alison replied, eyes still closed, "Piers was dirty and there are...loose contaminants to be dealt with. We're setting the reactor to self destruct."

"The Council won't like that," Joker said.

"The Council can go to hell," Shepard answered, "Shepard out."

After a short drive, the reactor building came into view - an unremarkable low building painted a dull grey that blended into the lunar terrain. Garrus parked the Mako and he and Ashley got out. Shepard joined them a few seconds later. Ashley's eyes widened in concern. "Maybe it would be best if you stayed..."  
"I'm going. I've been shot up worse before. Just not recently."  
"What about her?" Garrus pointed at the woman inside the Mako.

"Ash, keep an eye on her, Garrus, I need you to set off the reactor."

The door to the reactor building opened silently, revealing smooth grey walls coated with a strange substance, like a thick resin. "Somebody's been redecorating," Shepard remarked and ran a hand over the excretion.

"It looks as though the aliens are building some kind of nest in here," Garrus said as they began heading deeper inside the building. After a few steps, the lights became dimmer as more and more the the resin-like material was coated over the walls, floor and light fittings. The air become hotter and more humid, fogging up their helmet faceplates.

"I can hear them just up ahead," Garrus warned.

"Let's go meet the locals," Shepard answered and reached for her shotgun.

A rising chorus of hisses drew closer as half a dozen of the creatures ran at them across the walls, floor and ceiling.

"Fire in the hole!" Shepard threw a high explosive grenade into the aliens' midst then turned away as she hit the remote detonator. The blast scattered bits and pieces of alien, concrete and excretion up and down the corridor. The shockwave rattled Garrus' teeth and he could feel the vibration deep in his chest.

"Let's move," Shepard ordered and moved at a jog down the corridor. A holographic sign warned that the reactor was off limits to non-authorised personnel. Alison guessed her Spectre status over-rode that. The doors to the reactor whisked open, revealing banks of computer consoles and thick heavy cables.

Garrus located the main terminal and powered it up. His omnitool glowed as he used it to hack past the failsafes and access the self-destruct sequence. More hisses could be heard from inside the room.

"Oh this'll be fun," Shepard remarked as another alien crawled along the floor towards them. Shepard used her biotic abilities to throw it back across the room. It slammed into a wall and scrambled back to its feet. "Oh for Godsake..." Alison shouldered her weapon and fired. The shot blew half the xeno's head off and still it came.

"Garrus..."

"I'm almost done here," he answered.

"Warning: reactor core safeties offline. Catastrophic failure in one zero minutes." The facility VI told them.

"Joker, come in!" Shepard yelled as she unloaded another blast into the xeno. This time it stayed down.

"I'm not deaf you know, Commander," Joker replied.

"Prep the ship for launch now! Williams, fire up the Mako, if Piers gives you any trouble, shoot her and throw her outside."

As though aware of what they planned to do, more of the aliens emerged from the walls and ran at Garrus and Shepard. Backing towards the door, Garrus laid down suppressing fire while Shepard used her abilities to lift the aliens into the air where they writhed and hissed powerlessly.

Shepard turned to Garrus and said one word: "Run."  
Garrus sprinted towards the exit, Shepard lagging behind and limping quite badly now. Garrus reached the door, and looked back at Shepard. She was coming along as fast as she was able but it wouldn't be fast enough to outrun the xeno coming up behind her.

"It's right behind me, isn't it?" Alison gasped as she saw Garrus raise his assault rifle. "Frack me..." she said wearily and dropped to the floor. Gunfire echoed loudly in the tight confines of the corridor. Shepard rolled onto her back in time to see the alien collapse to the floor, riddled with bullet holes.

"I'm getting mighty sick of this," she said as Garrus jogged towards her. Leaning on him for support, Shepard finally reached the exit. Ashley had the Mako parked nearby with the ingress ramps lowered.

"How much time do we have?" Ashley asked as she gunned the engine.

"Oh about three minutes," Shepard replied.

"Great," Ashley said and floored the accelerator.

"Joker, we are coming in hard, recommend you open the ramp into the garage and ready for lift off."  
"Aye, ma'am, ramp is open, you're good to go."

The Mako sped aross the ground towards the _Normandy_ and at a highly unsafe speed, slammed up the ramp into the garage. Williams slammed both feet on the brakes but was unable to fully stop the vehicle before it rammed the back wall of the garage. A deep metallic sound rang out throughout the ship.

"Whoops," Ashley commented.

"Joker, we're in, close up the ramp and get us the hell out of here!"

The ramp closed up, sealing the interior of the ship from the vacuum outside and the _Normandy_ surged upwards, leaving the moon and the research complex behind.

Far below them, a small sun was born on the lunar surface.

The End.


End file.
